It's May 2010 now. In November 2008, I embarked on a briefly successful period of weight loss after a rather unhappy visit to the doctor. I came home with three prescriptions to treat my high blood pressure and diabetes and a burning desire to drop some weight.
And it worked, for a while. Between November 2008 and April 2009, I went from 375 pounds to 335 pounds. I felt better, my friends were beginning to notice and my numbers were moving in the right direction. I had done everything the right way: eating properly rather than being on a diet, tracking what I was eating, increasing my activity level, etc. I cut out almost all fast food, with the exception of Subway (no cheese and only vinegar dressing), was reading a bunch of motivational weight loss blogs, and was on the right track.
Then, everything derailed.
I write this not to blame anyone but myself, but I can trace the derailing to two specific things: I had been looking forward to seeing several people I hadn't seen for a long time, and showing off my 40 pound weight loss. When I did see them, they didn't notice that I had lost weight, or at least didn't comment on it. While this should not have affected me at all -- after all, friends who had seen me every day had noticed that I was losing weight -- it did. My motivation was sapped, and I slipped back into some of my old habits.
A few months later, my doctor, who was pleased with my results so far, scheduled me to come back six months later, rather than three months, which brings us back, more or less, to the present day.
As he put it last week, "when the cat's away, the mice will play."
And play they did, though fortunately, not too much. My weight is up a bit, but only about 15 pounds (to 350), which gives me a pretty good maintenance record over the past six or eight months. But my blood work numbers are higher than either of us would like, so the good doctor sent me home with yet another prescription. I am determined not to take all of these drugs for the rest of my life.
And so on Friday of last week, I started doing all the right things again: I am tracking my daily caloric intake, and limiting it to about 1,800. That target is much easier to reach than it would have been previously, now that fast food and junk food -- broadly defined as most stuff I would buy at a convenience store -- is out again. To make it easier, I am now on Day 3 of eliminating soda, both the sugared and the sugar-free types. This will be, possibly, the most difficult thing for me to do. I love soda.
For motivation, I'm back to reading several of my favorite weight loss blogs - Tony, who's lost an amazing 225 pounds; another Tony, who has lost a bunch of weight since I'd last read his blog; Kim, who doesn't write much but faithfully reports each week; and the Fat Lazy Guy, who is anything but these days. All of these guys have lost at least a hundred pounds; who they are now is who I want to become. And I can identify with who they were.
I'm adding my own blog this time around. It's something I considered doing last time, but never did. My failure to hold myself accountable online contributed to my failure to continue to be mindful about what I was eating.
This time, it's for real.
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